Four Senate Democrats are asking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to revive the agency’s Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) that was disbanded at the beginning of the second Trump administration.
The CSRB was created in February 2022 following an executive order from President Joe Biden to analyze major cybersecurity incidents and provide actionable recommendations through a public-private partnership. DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component was charged with managing, supporting, and funding the board.
That board was dismissed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second administration in January, along with all other members on advisory committees within the department.
DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar said during a February nomination hearing that the agency planned to reinstate CSRB “at the right time,” but DHS has been quiet on the matter since then.
“As we have said before, inadequate cyber security practices put our economy, our national security and even lives at risk,” wrote Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a May 29 letter to Noem. “The January dismissal of CSRB members, and continued uncertainty about the future role of the Board, has undermined cyber defense preparations for public and private entities across the United States.”
“In this age of great innovation, we cannot afford to see our private or public systems compromised by malicious actors. You have had more than four months to reestablish this Board to conduct this critical work – DHS leadership and CISA must work together to immediately reinstate the Board as a crucial part of America’s cyber defense infrastructure,” the senators said.
CSRB – comprised of 20 members from the private and public sector – was responsible for conducting an investigation into the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks, which resulted in infiltrations to telecom systems last fall targeting President Donald Trump; Vice President JD Vance; and associates of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The board had earlier investigated the Log4j vulnerability, attacks by the Lapsus$ hacker group, and the 2023 Microsoft Exchange Online intrusion.
The board also received criticism about transparency regarding which cybersecurity incidents the board chooses to investigate and how its members are selected.
In March, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., who chairs the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, wrote to Noem that he was “concerned that the CSRB’s structure inhibited the Board’s ability to fulfill its mandate.”